Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

18th Street Brewery, 4 - Good (buy), American Pale Ale, Beer Reviews, USA

18th Street Lake Street Express

Wednesday, 20 April 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: 18th Street Brewery
Country: USA
ABV: 4.5%
Style: American Pale Ale

Brewer Description: (from can) All aboard the Lake Street Express! Floral and fruity hops smack your tongue like a runaway train in our crazed session pale ale. Fare’s paid, next stop: Satisfaction.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.09
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 12 fl oz can with unfortunately no best by or canned on date. Poured into a Mikkeller pint glass.
Appearance: It poured a cloudy golden straw colour with a two finger white head that had good retention and left nice stick lacing.
Aroma: On the light side, but there’s tropical fruit mango and pineapple followed by some grapefruit zest and biscuit malt.
Taste: Light mango flavours followed by some nice grapefruit zest bitterness and a hint of orange.
Mouthfeel: Dry, light bodied with medium prickly carbonation.
Overall: Great fruit flavours and very easy to drink. Would have preferred a stronger aroma, but still a good sessionable beer.

4 - Good (buy), 8 Wired Brewing Co., Beer Reviews, German Berliner Weisse, New Zealand

8 Wired Hippy Berliner

Monday, 18 April 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: 8 Wired Brewing Co.
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 4.5%
Style: German Berliner Weisse

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A refreshing, light, hoppy, sour and very fruity tasting ale inspired by traditional Berliner Weisse ales. Naturally soured by live cultures and dry hopped with American and New Zealand hops. Probably the closest thing I have tasted to fruit juice, that didn’t contain any fruit at all! – It’s a trip! Peace out.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.17
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 500ml bottle from batch #23 with a best before date of 22nd June 2016 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a hazy straw yellow colour with less than one finger white head which disappeared almost immediately but left some light lace rings.
Aroma: Strong sour fruitiness with mainly guava, passionfruit, mango and lychee. There was some light grainy malts in the background.
Taste: Quite similar to the aroma, taste starts lightly sour and tropical with passionfruit, mango and pineapple. There was also a hint of grainy malt here and there.
Mouthfeel: Crisp, light to medium bodied with high carbonation.
Overall: A nice and crisp Berliner Weisse. Very easy to drink. It had good flavours but could have been even better if the tropical fruits were even stronger. Having said that, I would get this one again.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Garage Project, New Zealand, Stout

Garage Project Aro Noir

Thursday, 14 April 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Garage Project
Country: New Zealand
ABV: 7%
Style: American Stout
Other Notes: Brewed with roasted barley. Hops – Columbus and Summit.

Brewer Description: (from can) Aro Noir is a pitch blak and full flavoured stout. At its heart is a blend of four malts, with Columbus and Summit hops, creating a citric bitterness and aroma that marries nicely with the roast malt character. Yes, it is inspired by the darkness of a Wellington winter in Aro Valley, but truly it is a stout for all seasons. Join us on the dark side.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.07
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 330ml can with a best before date of 10th August 2016 and poured into a Moonzen teku glass.
Appearance: It poured a pitch black colour with a big almost three finger dark tan head that stuck around for a while and left nice streaky lacing.
Aroma: Roasted malts, coffee, light char and bittersweet chocolate.
Taste: Starts with a light roast, coffee and light char followed by a bitter espresso and citric finish.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with medium to high carbonation.
Overall: This was good with nice coffee flavours mixed in with some smoky char and a bitter fruit finish. Light enough to be a stout for all seasons.

4 - Good (buy), American IPA, Beer Reviews, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, USA

Sierra Nevada Beer Camp (2016): Tropical IPA

Wednesday, 13 April 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6.7%
Style: American IPA
Other Notes: Beer Camp is the perfect way for us to experiment with new flavor directions in beer. Each spring, we feature our favorite collaboration from camp. This year’s selection blends intensely aromatic hop varietals to create an IPA filled with fruit aromas of mango and papaya.

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This new equatorial IPA features intense hop varietals bursting with aromas reminiscent of island fruit, including notes of mango, papaya and bitter orange, for a tropical take on the IPA.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.77
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.6

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with a packaged on date of 13th January 2016 and poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass.
Appearance: It poured a clear copper orange colour with a tall fluffy three finger+ off white head with good retention and lots of sticky lacing.
Aroma: Orange candy sweetness with citrus lemon, lime and pine with maybe a hint of pineapple and bready malts.
Taste: Starts sweet-ish pineapple, before turning bitter orange peel, mandarin, lemon and grapefruit pith. I suppose there is a hint of mango there in the aftertaste, but its really lingering far in the background.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with medium carbonation.
Overall: This was pretty good. The lasting lingering bitterness is nice. However if I’m thinking Tropical IPA, this is completely not what I would think of. Yes there was pineapple and some mango here and there but they were mostly in the background. It’s an IPA for sure, but I don’t think it’s a Tropical IPA. Having said that, I’d give this another go.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Birra Toccalmatto, German Berliner Weisse, Italy

Toccalmatto Dr. Caligari

Tuesday, 12 April 2016 kitch Leave a comment

Brewery: Birra Toccalmatto
Country: Italy
ABV: 6.3%
Style: German Berliner Weisse

Brewer Description: (from bottle) An expressionist raspberry nightmare. Our own take on the traditional German style: slightly sour and loaded with lots of fresh raspberries.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.23
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 330ml bottle with a best before date of 1st June 2016 and poured into a Duvel tulip glass.
Appearance: It poured a slightly hazy pinkish orange colour with pretty much no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Tart, sour, lemon, then a strong candy raspberry jam.
Taste: This was nice. Like the aroma it starts with some tangy and tart lemon followed by raspberries. Hints of cherry and lime.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with some medium prickly carbonation.
Overall: This surprised me as recently I’ve been having some pretty poor Berliner Weisse. This was so much better and was very refreshing. With no head and lacing, it was very juice like too. I would look out for this one again.

words of another dreamy traveller